Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has awarded an honorary title to pro-Kremlin filmmaker and TV host Nikita Mikhalkov.
Kadyrov said he hosted Mikhalkov during his visit to the North Caucasus republic to attend a theater festival and premiere his play “12.” The play is a Chechnya-themed adaptation of his 2007 eponymous feature film, which was itself a remake of U.S. director Sidney Lumet’s “12 Angry Men.”
“I awarded Nikita Mikhalkov the honorary title of ‘Honored Art Worker of the republic of Chechnya’,” Kadyrov wrote on his Telegram channel late Thursday.
“I was also pleased to receive as a gift a pen with a flash drive containing 50 episodes of his program ‘Besogon TV’,” he added.
On “Besogon TV,” Mikhalkov, a conservative Orthodox Christian and winner of the 1994 Oscar for Best Foreign Film, bashes Western policies while praising the Kremlin.
“Besogon” is an old-fashioned Russian word that means “exorcist” or “demon banisher.”
Kadyrov said he thanked Mikhalkov for his “unambiguously firm patriotic stance and the support he gives to President Vladimir Putin.”
Mikhalkov was sanctioned by Western countries in 2022 over his support for the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine.
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